We are back to the routine, and the Flacons are working hard!
This week, learners explored the Fantastic Friction! They built a ramp and executed experiments on understanding where the marble would land. They also dove into the math behind the law of conservation of energy regarding potential and kinetic energy at the top and bottom of the ramp. Ask your child how their squad was doing in the Friday competition, and check the weekly photos to see their excellent work.
The Falcons started the week with a mentor critique. They had to choose between The Sneetches and Yertle the Turtle and analyze the text using questions like Is the protagonist's goal clear and powerful, or confusing and weak at first? Is the “inner lie” that the protagonist believes about himself, the world, or people in general? On Wednesday and Thursday, the learners gave critiques to each other, making their best effort to read each other’s (long!) stories and provide helpful feedback.
For Civ, the Falcons explored the Treaty of Westphalia. They had a fascinating discussion around this question: Imagine you are the President of the United States. One state has decided that it would like to secede from the country because a majority of its citizens hold political ideals and religious beliefs that are no longer in line with the United States. As President, would you allow this? Why or why not?
One of our morning launches this week was about Albert Einstein (did you know he was chosen as TIME Magazine's Person of the 20th Century?) The Falcons debated this question: Which technology, directly enabled by Einstein’s work on light, waves, gravity, and electromagnetism, has impacted civilization the most:
Television,
Global Positioning System (GPS),
Lasers for science, warfare, and medicine, or
Smartphones